Texas: Hannah Overton, Imprisoned Foster Parent, Requests New Trial

Hannah Overton, 30, the Texas foster parent and Christian homeschooling mother of five convicted to life in prison without parole for the murder of a foster child, is asking for a new trial.

She was convicted in September 2007 because she allegedly forced a four year old, Andrew Burd, to drink a mixture of two cups water, salt, pepper, chili powder and Cajun spices as a punishment. Hannah’s version of this is different. She says the child requested the “Zatarain’s Seasoning” and she put it in water instead of on food because he had an overeating disorder. She says she did not force him to drink it as a punishment. Source: Free Hannah Overton Website.

While many more violent foster parents have gotten off with a mere hand-slap, this young woman was sentenced to life without parole even though she had no intention to kill the child. She reportedly panicked when she saw Andrew wasn’t breathing, and waited an hour and a half to call for medical assistance. This is what the prosecutor said made her responsible for Andrew’s death. Source: Woman Convicted In Foster Child’s Death Seeks New Trial published on November 7, 2008 at KWTX.com.

A commenter at Sarah Walston’s blog article about Hannah Overton said that the actual time Overton waited to take Andrew to the hospital was only five minutes, not an hour and a half.

This case shows that foster parenting is a dangerous occupation. For years now I’ve warned people NOT to get involved with the foster care industry because of the risk of false accusations, and because of things like this where foster children die or are murdered, and there must be accountability.

One foster parent wrote on Sarah Walston’s blog:
“This story TERRIFIES me because I currently have 2 foster children living in my home, and now I’m forced to think ‘What IF this happens to ME?’ This story shows how easily some unfortunate twist of fate, can leave someone wrongfully convicted…”

There is a website created by Overton’s Christian supporters: Free Hannah Overton.

My opinion on this is that she got a much longer sentence than she deserved. Without a doubt, forcing a child to drink hot spices is a form of child abuse, and she deserved some prison time if she actually did that, but to put her away for life without parole is far too much time, especially for a young woman who is unlikely to be a danger to society if set free.

Another blog article, Suffer the Children, gives an opposing view, criticizing the “Free Hannah Overton” movement and pointing to perceived flaws in the thinking and writing of those seeking to help her.

For a picture of Andrew Burd: Corpus Christi Couple Charged in Death.

This case has become a favorite cause for bloggers, especially Christian bloggers:
Hannah Overton :: Pray for Hannan Overton :: Release Hannah Overton :: Free Hannah!!! :: Hannah Overton Alleged Salt Poisoning Case :: Urgent Prayer Request for Hannah Overton :: May God Bless Hannah Overton and Family :: Free Hannah Overton :: Free Hannah Overton.

Other FightCPS articles about Hannah Overton: Texas: Fosterer charged with murdering 4-yr-old boy with hot pepper

Hannah’s aunt posted extensive information on her MySpace blog in which she said part of the conviction relied on a FALSE affidavit filed by a CPS social worker! See: The Wrongful Conviction of Hannah Overton.

What is your opinion? Should Hannah Overton be freed? Should her sentence (life without parole) be exchanged for something less harsh? Or do you think she got what she deserved?

Filed under: Legal Issues — Linda Martin @ 2:29 pm

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Hello. Thank you for posting this. Those of us who know Hannah (and her husband Larry) are innocent are doing all we know to do to get Hannah exonerated. Her appeal was heard on Thurs, Nov 6. It could take months for the justices to decide.

While our first objective is Hannah’s freedom, in the longer view, we are committed to doing what we can to help other families avoid a double tragedy like this one. First we lost Andrew. Then Hannah and Larry were accused, and Hannah was convicted.

The best outcome of this whole matter would be 3 things: 1) Hannah’s release and exoneration; 2) “Hannah’s Law” — we don’t yet know what this is, but a policy change that would help avoid future wrongful convictions like this; and 3) “Andrew’s Law” — again, we don’t know what this is yet, but some kind of policy change that would help avoid a death like Andrew’s. This last is where readers of fightCPS might be most interested. What changes to the foster & CPS system will best protect children & families? What would protect & serve foster & adoptive families?

If you have questions about the case, or would like to join in our efforts to accomplish the above, please email us at justicereform@gmail.com. We’ll do our best to get back to you as soon as possible.

justicereform@gmail.com

Comment by Lucy Frost — November 8, 2008 @ 11:05 am

Thanks for the update, Lucy. I didn’t write much about this case back when it was happening because I kept looking at Hannah’s picture, reading about her life, and then the charges of a woman forcing a child to drink hot spices didn’t seem to fit. I like how the site mentioned that forcing a hot spicy liquid down a preschool boy’s throat would not be an easy proposition. The scenario of him wanting the spices and her putting them in water for him to drink voluntarily really seems much more believable.

I don’t know what kind of law would help boys like Andrew in the future. We here at FightCPS want children to be with their natural parents (or extended family members) whenever possible. I know that many foster parents are essentially well-meaning and decent people wanting to help. The ones I don’t care for are the child collectors who make an outrageously high monthly income from adoption subsidy payments.

My preference is that children never be adopted out when their natural parents are alive. I don’t believe in termination of parental rights. I believe children have the right to know who their God-given parents are even if they are imperfect in many ways. Children usually love their parents no matter what and the decision to break off visitations (if it comes to that) should be the child’s, not the government’s.

Comment by Linda — November 8, 2008 @ 5:15 pm

I’m sorry but it’s hard for me to sympathize with Hannah. Although a life sentence definitely sounds excessive, that’s what many parents who have had their children taken from them have to endure. I would like to know more about Andrew why was he taken away from his family. Was he at risk of death?

Comment by California — November 9, 2008 @ 12:06 pm

Andrew’s mother was a drug addict. The child was neglected and abused. But the paternal grandmother tried to get custody. I wonder if the bio father talked trash about his mother to try to defend himself from critisism. The father was a drug addict as well, but he apparently had straightened his life around by the time Andrew died. I also met him briefly at the funeral. He was in the army & went to Iraq just a week or so after the Andrew’s death.

Comment by Stevie — November 10, 2008 @ 10:52 pm

I have always been very skeptical of the idea that Hannah was guilty of capital murder. But I used to think Felony Injury to a Child was a more appropriate charge. She still would have gotten serious jail time, but not life.

But when 20/20 did their story, foster parents started commenting on their site about how their child had Pica. “We had to hide out salt shakers” I now think the most she should have been charged with would be manslaughter. (2 – 20 years) Maybe criminally negligent homicide. (up to 10 years.)

Comment by Stevie — November 10, 2008 @ 10:57 pm

I also agree that whenever possible, children should be with their biological parents or with family.

The issue of Hannah giving Andrew spices in water is simple — he’d been eating stew flavored with those spices, he liked them and wanted more. But he had an eating disorder and had already eaten a lot. He was known to eat so much that he would make himself sick. So she sprinkled some of the spices in a tumbler of water, then poured some of that in a sippy cup. She was hoping that if he got the flavor that he wanted, he would be satisfied and would not eat more and make himself sick. It was no different than getting a broth and the fact that it was a substance with salt in it is what created suspicion.

Note that the sippy cup was of the type that you can’t pour it out — the child has to suck on it to get the liquid out. So there’s no way anyone forced Andrew to drink anything out of it.

There’s also no way that one sippy cup held the lethal amount of salt. it would have taken 23 teaspoons of Zatarain’s to get that much salt in his system — way more than would fit in a sippy cup.

More likely is that Andrew was already experiencing elevated sodium levels due to undiagnosed diabetes (lots of markers for this were found) and then gulped down something on his own when he was out of Hannah’s sight. He was also known to eat anything he could get his hands on, including non-food items.

Back to kids being with biological families — Hannah did not know Andrew well. He’d been with the Overtons for just 4 months and in the last month, his behavior had gotten very strange. Sometimes he would get angry and not talk to them. He would poop and smear it around and say he did that because he was mad, but he wouldn’t say why he was mad.

So when he became sick that day and would not answer their questions at some point, they did not know how to “read” him.

And, they had been advised by the adoption people that adopted children may exhibit odd or extreme behaviors, especially after a “honeymoon” period when they are settling in.

I have often wondered whether someone who’d known Andrew from birth, if they would have realized days earlier that he was not well.

Hannah herself had expressed concern to her case worker just days before, wondering if there were something wrong that was physical, not emotional.

I’ve also wondered whether drug use during pregnancy messes up the hypothalmus in some children, which regulates body chemistry.

Hannah is innocent of any crime, in my opinon. She did not recognize the symptoms of salt poisoning. Who would? She knew Andrew was sick, and once she realized he was in serious trouble, they were in the car and on the way to the clinic within 5 minutes.

Comment by Lucy Frost — November 17, 2008 @ 7:38 pm

Lucy, I also believe she was railroaded. I hope justice is served here.

Comment by MaggieC — November 17, 2008 @ 8:19 pm

Larry and Hannah are not advocates of children being removed from their biological parents. When they met Andrew, they saw a little boy that had been victimized by a corrupt system, and a little boy desperately in need of a ‘forever home’. They did not rip this little boy from his biological mommy, daddy or even grandparents. CPS did that. Andrew’s parents’ rights had already been terminated before the Overtons became involved. Hannah and Larry are very ‘pro-family’ and have been themselves victimized by CPS. Both knowing the very intimate details of this wretched horror and watching from the outside, this is a very clear case of CPS covering their behinds and of the state railroading a ‘suspect’ to conviction. The real criminals here are the CPS workers that did not get the Overtons the required medical and psychological intervention that Andrew desperately needed in order to survive. Let’s put CPS and the state on trial and sentence them to end this corruption.

Comment by Emily O — November 26, 2008 @ 12:06 pm

Does anyone else see how rediculous the claim is that Hannah waited 90 minutes after Andrew stopped breathing???? When Andrew arrrived, it was obvious he had just stopped breathing. And they revived him immediately.

Comment by Stevie — November 29, 2008 @ 1:05 pm

OK….. pica……..they tried to say my aughter had that too…….but yet she had regular bowel …..they said she ate weird things like a cd case (hard plastic) but never went to get her stomache looked at……….the NO 1 QUESTION supervision HELLLLOOO who dosnt notice there kids eating non -food itims………i do understand things happen you turn your back for a sec BUT……..LARGE AMOUNTS OF SALT SPICES OR A CD CASE…. i do think the sentence is a little bit harsh……..

Comment by angel — November 29, 2008 @ 1:40 pm

but cps always thinks there great!!!! look what happens……..

Comment by angel — November 29, 2008 @ 1:44 pm

What was originally described by Hannah Overton as a choking incident that led to his death, was later determined to be something very different. The official cause of death is sodium poisoning, and ruled a homicide.
Police believe the sodium poisoning occurred when the mother forced the child to drink water laced with chili powder, salt, pepper and other spices as a form of punishment, and that it was not the first time. The couple’s other children each separately told authorities that this was a common form of punishment, but that Andrew got it worse than all of them because he was “always in trouble.” They also told police that their mother often confined Andrew to his bed for long periods of time, that he had to pee and poop in the bed, and that she would watch him through a security camera to make sure he didn’t get up. The children also said that Andrew was not ever allowed to go with the family on trips.

Comment by angel — November 29, 2008 @ 1:50 pm

this a very sad sad story

I would be very interested in reading the actual court transcripts rather than solely the newspaper accounts.

Comment by MaggieC — November 30, 2008 @ 5:30 pm

Angel – A pepper flake on the tongue (what 7 yr old Isaac said), although completely unacceptable, is a very different thing from forcing half a cup of Zattarains seasonign mixed with water down a kids throat (what the police claim happened.) And a child eating 2 tablespoons of salt on his own is far more palusable than what the police claimed happened.

Comment by Stevie — December 1, 2008 @ 10:08 pm

And Andrew was not ‘confined to bed’ for more than bedtime. If you look at what Issac said about that, he clearly states his mother would watch Andrew till he fell asleep at night before she would allow herself to fall asleep. That is going the extra mile to supervise a child. But instead of thois extra diligence been applauded, the DA tried to make it look sinister.

Comment by Stevie — December 1, 2008 @ 10:12 pm

The lead investigator in this case is married to a CPS supervisor who was fired in May for “for sharing confidential case information which damaged her professional credibility in the community.”
It appears as though she was getting on the local newspaper’s blog & discussing confidential information about the case.

Comment by Stevie — December 6, 2008 @ 1:18 am

Stevie, thanks for keeping us updated. Let us know if anything changes with Hannah’s case.

Comment by Linda — December 6, 2008 @ 6:06 am

Detective Michael Hess (the lead investegator in the Hannaho Overton case) in the criminal investigation division was put on paid leave in March..

“The department received a complaint . . . that Hess engaged in conduct that hindered the prosecution of a felony criminal case that already has gone to trial. “

Comment by Stevie — December 6, 2008 @ 9:15 pm

The article was very vague. That is all I have.

Comment by Stevie — December 6, 2008 @ 9:19 pm

We have a child that came to us at age 4. He was very much like the descriptions I have read about Andrew. He is now seven and although he is doing better, we still live on “lockdown”. He requires 24/7 supervision. We have video cameras, motion detectors, locks on the pantry, fridges, and cabinets. For the first year he insisted on sleeping under his bed. He would urinate and deficate in beach buckets in his room or in the trash can in his room.

This child has been caught drinking tabasco, licking Tony’s (similiar to Zatarans) off of his hands while hiding in his closet, sucking on ice cream rock salt, etc etc etc. His favorite treat for a while was chile lucas, I put it in water to dilute it. (just a couple of sprinkles in a cup) This could have very easily been us.

People should not be so quick to judge unless they have raised a RAD child. It is an entirely new world. We have six children in the home. We adopted one before this child and one after. We will probably adopt again. We do it because we love these kids. CPS offers zero support in the way of information. We did not have his medical or psychological info prior to his placement. In the three years we had him prior to finalizing his adoption, we went through eight cps caseworkers.

Prior to being an approved home, one must endure an extensive homestudy. During that time, they question each of the bio kids privately about discipline in the home.

Everything I have read thus far leads me to believe that this was a tragic accident. My prayers are with all of the children involved.

Comment by Rie — December 12, 2008 @ 7:24 pm

This is a perfect example of overzealous prosecution. The whole case is on nonsensical conjecture by the prosecution. There really should be a law for overzealous prosecutors, who are just interested in winning, convicting, getting the strongest sentence. The jury didn’t seem to totally understand the rule of law but they were intimidated or just thought the prosecution must be telling the truth. This was a very sad state of affairs, many of the prosecutors witnesses even thought that the case may have been overreaching. I wonder if there were a penalty for prosecutors who are just out to make a name for themselves and will stop at nothing, just to win. If there were repercussions maybe prosecutors would not be such assholes!

Comment by Steve Wilburn — December 27, 2008 @ 9:11 pm

I do not reside in Texas, but I am very familiar with this case. Hannah was responsible for this tragic death, and she should have accepted a plea. Those who blame the judge, jury, or prosecution are either poorly informed or biased. An objective review of the facts supports the verdict and sentence. Hannah’s story does not pass the smell test.

Comment by Retired Special Agent — January 22, 2009 @ 12:49 pm

Retired Special Agent you have no heart and you are looking at it from biased closed eyes. You conveniently neglected to explain the arguements for all the evidence that was left out criminally in from my perspective that should have been revealed to the jury before any decision was made.

Comment by geoff — January 27, 2009 @ 6:49 am

To Rie who posted on December 12, 2008 — I’d like to be in touch with you about your experience.

Please email me at justicereform@gmail.com.

Comment by JusticeReform — February 5, 2009 @ 8:12 am

Texas: Hannah Overton, Imprisoned Foster Parent, Requests New Trial

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